Monday, October 22, 2012

Chat Analysis: Misconceptions from Pro Tour: Return to Ravnica


Even if you ignore the trolls, it is a painful experience sometimes to read the live chat on Twitch.tv.  I wanted to address some of the comments I saw coming up while watching the coverage of Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Return to Ravnica.

So do you think we need to prepare for eggs or was it a one-time blip?
Because it just won a pro tour, yes, you need to be prepared for it.  You need to know how they can play around your sideboard cards, and when to concede and when to make them play it out.  You have to know these same things against a mono red burn deck, too.  Good or bad, these decks are a part of the format, and you should be prepared, and have a plan.

Irregardless of metagame positioning, it is also a complicated combo deck that is difficult to play quickly enough.  Note that I said “quickly”, not “correctly”.  It is even harder to pilot this deck correctly.  Do not think you can just pick this deck up and go win a tournament with it.

This is why Jund should always run maelstrom pulse.
Maelstrom pulse costs three mana and is a sorcery.  It functions very similarly to oblivion ring – slow and clunky.  Neither card fit what the deckbuilders predicted would be needed for this tournament, which was instant speed, low cost removal.  This helped eggs to be able to fight through decks that didn’t have answers to its combo or sideboard.

Cifka/Yuuya is so lucky he drew his leyline/ancient grudge in both those games
There is a reason high level competitive sideboards consisting of 4/4/4/3 cards are not common today.  Particularly in a format like Modern, the threats you might face are too varied for you to be able to predict, and you need to cover your bases.  The finalists having their sideboarded answers is a part of magic – sometimes you have it, and sometimes you have to fight an uphill battle.  Sometimes you topdeck the land you need, and sometimes you don’t.

That’s Magic!

Why didn’t he build the storm count more before casting Grapeshot-what if he had removed the spellbomb during sideboarding?
Then he would have lost the finals of the pro tour, and presumably kicked himself.  Or just used conjurer’s bauble to get the grapeshot back.

The pressure of a match where EVERYTHING is on the line is far too heavy to say “well obviously he should have built the storm count more”.  He made a mistake.  He let the pressure and emotion get to him.  He then regained his composure and began to continue his combo.

Shouldn’t <card> be added as a win condition?  (Disciple of the Vault, Bitter Ordeal, Doubling Season + Jace, Architect of Thought)
Did you hear Cifka groan when he drew two leylines in a row while comboing off?
The combo even requires you to thin lands out of your deck gain the extra percent that the cards you draw will be live.  There is a reason Pyrite Spellbomb is the only maindeck win condition.  It can be used as part of the combo (not a mana-neutral part, though) to draw cards while going off, and can be tutored for by Reshape if needed, or used to kill a Deathrite Shaman.  I guess this combo is a way to infinite ultimate with a few Planeswalkers if you’re into that kind of thing…

<card> needs to be banned! (Second Sunrise, Conjurer’s Bauble)
It just takes too long and is boring to play vs. thats why I think they will ban it
Sensei’s Divining Top was a very specific case.  This is no different than a traditional control mirror matchup going to time.  It may have been boring for you, but I was holding my breath watching game 5.   Please, do not complaing that it is noninteractive.  Yuuya proved that there is always some action to consider, some line of play to give you a fighting chance.  Eggs is not overpowered, it took advantage of the field and metagame by attacking from an angle the other players were not prepared for, and with answers for the answers they tried to use.


To end on a positive note, here are some posts I found on twitter that I really liked:

Magic players saying #PTRTR finals was boring: you should've been learning from the players' decision making & composure. Learn & improve. 

As many people have said before, the ability to play one type of game makes you better in others. :) #ptrtr
 
Infinite respect for Watanabe who, unlike most of Twitter, didn't whine during the entire final round and kept a smile on his face. #ptrtr


Congrats to Stanislav Cifka, Pedro Carvalho, Lee Shi Tian, Eduardo Sajgalik, David Ochoa, Willy Edel, Kelvin Chew, and Yuuya Watanabe on their Pro Tour Top 8!

Let me know if you have any questions, comments, opinions.  Twitter @dasbif

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